The European Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of a controlling stake in Compañía Española de Petróleos (Cepsa; Madrid) by International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC; Abu Dhabi). IPIC is buying Total’s 48.83% stake for €3.7 billion ($5 billion) under a deal announced earlier this year. The commission says that after examining the operation, it concluded that “the merged entity would face effective competitors and that the transaction would have no effect on the merged entities' incentives to coordinate...